In a recent article
in the journal NeuroToxicology, a research team led by Roger D. Masters,
Dartmouth College Research Professor and Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor
of Government Emeritus, reports evidence that public drinking water
treated with sodium silicofluoride or fluosilicic acid, known as silicofluorides
(SiFs), is linked to higher uptake of lead in children.

Sodium fluoride,
first added to public drinking water in 1945, is now used in less than
10% of fluoridation systems nationwide, according to the Center for
Disease Control's (CDC) 1992 Fluoridation Census. Instead, SiF's are
now used to treat drinking water delivered to 140 million people. While
sodium fluoride was tested on animals and approved for human consumption,
the same cannot be said for SiFs.

Masters and his
collaborator Myron J. Coplan, a consulting chemical engineer, formerly
Vice President of Albany International Corporation, led the team that
has now studied the blood lead levels in over 400,000 children in three
different samples. In each case, they found a significant link between
SiF-treated water and elevated blood lead levels.

There is also a
theory that SiF is a cholinesterase inhibitor. "If SiFs are cholinesterase
inhibitors, this means that SiFs have effects like the chemical agents
linked to Gulf War Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and other puzzling
conditions that plague millions of Americans," said Dr. Masters.
"We need a better understanding of how SiFs behave chemically and
physiologically."